Wolf | 
| Director: Mike Nichols
Actors: Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, James Spader, Kate Nelligan, Richard Jenkins
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $9.95
Buy New: $4.23
You Save: $5.72 (57%)
New (50) Used (22) Collectible (1) from $3.63
Rating:  64 reviews
Sales Rank: 5314
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Full Screen, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), Georgian (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
DVD Layers: 1
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Array
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 125 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: D71159D
ISBN: 0800177029
UPC: 043396711594
EAN: 9780800177027
ASIN: 0800177029
Theatrical Release Date: June 17, 1994
Release Date: November 26, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Sophisticated to a point, this well-executed wolf-man tale works due to its clever setting and enormous star power. We all know Jack Nicholson can go nuts, but the script makes his character aware of his changes, sometimes for the better, early on. The setting, a publishing house in the middle of a takeover, gives the characters dramatic life before the horror elements kicks in. A senior editor about to get the boot, Nicholson's character becomes a new man after being bitten by a wolf. He takes on challenges at work, lives a more robust life, and attracts a new love. But will his newfound energy consume him? Director Mike Nichols keeps the action alive in the first half, but the film peters out at the end with cheap theatrics and the overuse of slow motion. Michelle Pfeiffer has little to do as simply the love interest with a grittier than average personality. Better is James Spader as a smarmy colleague. Nicholson is in fine form, relying on his keen gift to spark interest (a twitch of the head, a look in the eyes), instead of heavy doses of movie makeup. Giuseppe Rotunno's sweeping camerawork sets the mood quite well. Easy to recommend, with the added feature it's hardly gratuitous. --Doug Thomas
Product Description
A MILD-MANNERED BOOK EDITOR METAMORPHOSES AFTER HE IS BITTEN ON THE HAND BY WOLF. WITH INVIGORATED PHYSICAL STRENGTH, HEIGHTENED SENSES AND OTHER MYSTERIOUS CHANGES. HE GETS REVENGE ON A SCHEMING CO-WORKER WHO TRIES TO STEAL HIS JOB AND HIS WIFE. HE FINDS A NEW VERY BEAUTIFUL LOVE INTEREST.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 59 more reviews...
A Classy Werewolf Story June 9, 2009
Craig Connell (Lockport, NY USA)
Here's a werewolf movie done with some style and some class. This may be the only werewolf-business world story combination. It features effective villains played by James Spader and Christopher Plummer and the always unpredictable Jack Nicholson.
Nicholson has the lead role, naturally, and is refreshingly low-key, especially for him. I don't believe he ever raised his voice in this movie, acting very subdued throughout.
There isn't as much action as you see in most modern-day horror movies but yet this is such an intense story that you don't lose interest. It's pretty good in the visual department, too, and it doesn't hurt to have Michelle Pfeiffer to ogle.
This Wolf Blows The House Down April 12, 2009
B26354 (Atlanta, GA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Jack Nicholson makes the perfect gentle, mild-mannered protagonist as Will, who becomes slowly transformed after being bitten on a stretch of dark lonely road in the snow after hitting a wolf with his car and then climbing out to investigate in perhaps the creepiest scene in the movie ("A wolf in Vermont? Are you sure?" everyone keeps asking him). Great star power, atmosphere, and lush interiors in this film, with Pfeiffer as the blue-blood, sarcastic street-smart and estranged daughter of Will's ruthless boss (played beautifully by Christopher Plummer) who replaces Will as senior editor of the publishing house he takes over, with younger, upstart punk Stewart (played by the flawless James Spader who is seemingly BORN to play these kinds of roles) and who we could really refer to as a "wolf-in-sheep's clothing" because he has everyone fooled that he is really a nice guy instead of the ruthless backstabbing coward he really is. David Hyde Pierce is also perfectly cast as Will's coworker and buddy who stands by him and whose role could have been expanded so he would have had more screen time, but hey, I'll take what I can get. The story is a refreshing and original modernization of the werewolf tale that has been told a thousand different ways that we have all seen throughout the history of cinema, complete with humor and gore and plot twists that keep it fresh and exciting. They even retained the mystical element of the story as well, but keeping it relevant with this day and age (Will's transformation enables him to deal with these hard situations in a way he was not previously capable of, so it is a joy, in a way, to see him come into his own so the deserving people get what's coming to them) and the effects on the different interpersonal relationships of the characters. The strange, slow-mo ending sequences of the film fall short compared to the first part of the movie (would a climactic werewolf battle include using gardening tools as weapons and attempted rape? um, probably not, but hey, suspension of disbelief is important here), but are unique and interesting enough to keep you guessing as to how the action will end and who will survive. Sit down with a hot cup of tea on a stormy night and enjoy this great re-telling of a classic horror movie story complete with humor, horror, and some great star power, which also includes Prunella Scales (remember Fawlty Towers?), David Jenkins, Kate Nelligan, Eileen Atkins, Ron Rifkin (who has one of the funniest lines in the film), and Allison Janney and David Schwimmer in bit parts - no pun intended!
 It's a Gift! April 12, 2009
Richard Drozd (Shoreline, WA USA)
There isn't much I can add to the many fine reviews of this underrated film, except this: when one looks at all the many werewolf movies produced, going back to Lon Cheny, Jr's THE WOLFMAN, the one constant is that lycanthropy is a curse, an unwarranted damnation. What struck me after watching this film recently is the possibility that the transformation of man (or woman) into wolf can be viewed as a blessing, a gift. It certainly is for Nicholson's character Will Randall. Notice he never maims or kills except in self defense (OK, he DID slaughter the innocent deer, but that is a normal event in the animal kingdom). What he gets out of it is an escape from the treacherous brutality and betrayal of homosapiens and the freedom to make his life what he wants it to become--we get a clue of this early on from his truthful, but tasteless (and funny) remark at the party about the decline of civilization and the triumph of pop and therapeutic culture. He has no use for the world humanity has unmade, and werewolfism becomes his ticket out of it. Added to this is the likely possibility that he'll wind up with his new love as an added bonus. Seems like the perfect happy ending to me!
 Where's Creepy Jack? April 8, 2009
D. Mikels (Skunk Holler)
Jack Nicholson as a werewolf. Now THAT should be some serious entertainment. Imagine the irascible actor in his typical "rip you a new one" form--only this time he's got the physical traits to literally make it happen. So it was with gleeful anticipation that I recently pulled up a chair to watch WOLF, a film originally released in the Nineties. And I was so. . .
. . .underwhelmed. Jack, playing an editor at a publishing house where corporate takeover is, well, taking over, goes through his role with all the intensity and grit of a plow horse going to the barn. Bitten by a wolf, he begins to experience other-worldly powers, yet for all his energy the filmmakers might as well have given him a sedative. Love interest Michelle Pfeifer looks good and disinterested at the same time, while "villain" James Spader is, I suppose, comic relief. The "showdown" between Jack and James as this film draws to its yawning conclusion is just. . .silly.
Another reviewer has dubbed WOLF a "thinking man's" werewolf movie, and while I agree the film elicits thought, for me it pertained to second-guessing thought. Like why-did-I-just-lose-90-minutes-of-my-life second-guessing? And, come on: The jumps and leaps by the assorted werewolves were so lame they reminded me of the lousy special effects from The Six Million Dollar Man. Which pretty much sums up my feelings for this movie. Lousy. Snarl.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning
"The worm has turned and is now packing an Uzi, Mary." February 16, 2009
H. Bala (Carson - hey, we have an IKEA store! - CA USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
For those who had never seen Jack Nicholson play it meek in a movie, this may be as meek as dude gets (and then it only lasts for about half an hour). In WOLF, Nicholson plays middle-aged softie Will Randall, a mild-mannered hubbie locked in a marriage of indifference. Will is also the editor-in-chief of a respected New York publishing agency - that is, until he gets demoted, at which point he assumes this indignant but resigned look. As it turns out, this would only be the first in a series of betrayals, and Will Randall looks to be just another in a long line of easily dismissed victims. Except...
WOLF starts out in a snowy, moonlit scene in which Will Randall, motoring from Vermont to Manhattan, is bitten by a wolf he had accidentally run over. And soon the shocking changes begin to manifest. Will feels strangely rejuvenated, even as he develops extremely heightened senses. Suddenly he's able to eavesdrop from across the atrium, sniff out morning liquor on a co-worker's breath, and hurdle tall walls in slow motion. His newly gained confidence allows him to take charge of his life and even revenge himself on those what done him wrong. And then, one day, a disconcerted Will Randall wakes up, soaked in blood.
Once in a blue full moon, a schlock genre spits out a gem. I happen to think that WOLF is one of the better, smarter entries in werewolf cinema, and I'd even put it up there with An American Werewolf in London, The Howling (Special Edition) and The Company of Wolves. I dig WOLF for the various elements which come correct. For a contemporary film, it wallows in this marvelous gothic atmosphere. There are wicked, unexpected flourishes of humor, and even a smattering of social satire, if one presumes that Will Randall's gradual descent from reserved refinement to uninhibited wolfishness is a metaphor for the predatory, in-the-trenches facet of the New York publishing world.
It's weird seeing Jack Nicholson in an underdog role, but it's very neat seeing his docile, dumped-on character - whose traits of "taste and individuality" suddenly become liabilities in his job - gaining a huge pair and constructing such a ruthless yet elegant get-back. Nicholson submits a layered interpretation, delivering a fascinating study of a cultured man's growing horror as he succumbs to his baser instincts. The fascinating bits all have to do with that part of him which revels in this turn to savagery. While Nicholson does get moments to chew up scenery, for a good part we're treated to a restrained performance, although, having said that, there's a whiff of that devilish Jack just underneath most of the scenes. Casting dude as a lycanthrope is a no-brainer; there's always been something feral about Jack. And, when he chooses, who else can apply a more baleful, wolfish glare?
Nicholson is supported by sharp performances by Michelle Pfeiffer (still very much in her babedom, in 1994) as surly heiress and wounded soul Laura Alden, in whom Will Randall finds a kindred spirit, and Christopher Plummer who, as Randall's boss and Laura's father, flaunts just enough equal doses of sophistication, despicability and worldly understanding that he invites this ambivalent, just-on-principles form of dislike. And James Spader rocks. James Spader for a while had cornered the market on those oily backstabbling yuppie parts. This is never more exemplified than in his role of Stewart Swinton, Randall's friend and underling, whose calculated smarm and brand of "heat and gossip" contrive to betray Randall in all ways.
Having recently reseen WOLF, I'm again startled that the violence is so low-key. The werewolf scenes are understated, the werewolf make-up not as dynamic or viscerally rendered as, say, that in THE HOWLING or AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. WOLF instead relies more on suspense and the sense of horror being evoked thru effective use of lighting and score, thru adroit character study and spot-on acting. The disappointing thing is that WOLF, in its climactic scenes, resorts to a typical werewolf fighty fight. And I'm still not quite sure whether I like the ending or not, although the closing shots certainly smack of the darkly poetic. In the final tally, WOLF is overwhelmingly a terrific horror movie, dark and subtle and literate, romantic and wicked funny. So, er, go ahead... take a bite of this (sorry, I groaned too).
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